Be present. Sadness is often accompanied by feelings of isolation. As I have observed in crises and less
extreme negative circumstances, executives who remain accessible impart strength, as well as a sense of
communal concern and connection, to their follow-ers. However, while engaging with sad employees,
resist the temptation to push for higher spirits or to
provide advice about how an individual should cope
with sadness. Specifically, do not tell sad employees
that you know how they feel — you couldn’t. Do not
compare their sad situations with your own: Your
examples may seem insensitive and irrelevant.

With dramatic loss, employees may seem detached or disoriented, behaviors that can increase
a manager’s reluctance to intervene. Nonetheless,
practical approaches from managers and executives can help lighten the burden. If employees
have experienced a serious personal loss, help
them temporarily make work a lower priority so
that they can focus on dealing with their grief.
Allow employees to overcome their sadness at their
own pace. Help them connect with their natural
support systems. Some options to temporarily relieve the full burden of work include providing
time off or a few days of shortened work hours,
permitting affected employees to work remotely,
identifying avenues for transferring some of their
responsibilities to colleagues, and encouraging
them to postpone or cancel work travel.

A senior manager who faced family traumadescribed the relief, gratitude, and impact she expe-rienced after receiving compassionate treatment atwork. “My boss’s immediate response was that nowwas not a time to be concerned about work,” she said.“He acknowledged, without flinching, just howtraumatic my personal loss was and that it had im-plications for me personally and professionally. Hedid what he could to help me delegate my obliga-tions so that I could spend more time with my family.When I returned to work, my colleagues acceptedthat I would be working in a haze of sadness for quitea while. All of this helped a lot. I was always dedicatedto my work and to my workplace. This experiencedeepened my connection to both.”Support from business leaders during a toughtime can have an immense impact on an employ-ee’s morale. The founder and former president of avery prosperous network services organizationcredited empathy during times of duress as a keycontributor to his company’s extraordinary suc-cess. As he put it, “We were especially intent onsupporting people through difficult experiences.All of us go through them. It’s the right thing to do.What we learned over time was that our employees,even those who simply knew about the company’sresponsiveness and were not direct beneficiaries,more than reciprocated with unflagging loyalty.”In times of loss and sadness, seize opportuni-ties to demonstrate character. Many managersconfess that they become befuddled when employ-ees cry. Of course, this is not a helpful reaction. Toimprove, begin by accepting that crying is a legiti-mate way to display negative emotions (even if youprefer to express sadness or frustration in a differ-ent way). Allow employees some time to workthrough their initial reactions to an upsetting cir-cumstance. If needed, offer a dignified, temporaryexit with respectful cues like, “This has been a longday. Shall we wrap up for now and reconvene to-morrow morning?”Study participants who speak or write about theirpersonal experiences of sadness at work tend to focuson their bosses’ attitudes and behaviors. They attri-bute courage for “normalizing the emotions,”“dealing with the situation rather than allowing thenegative to fester,” and demonstrating “grit.” Theyportray bosses who stayed in the moment, reset pri-orities, and gently guided forward movement. In thebest cases, they tell us that bosses who faced intoemotional adversity inspired them to behave simi-larly, to contribute more, and to grow professionally.Some point to organizational impact when theirbosses’ willingness to address negative emotionshelped others find the strength to endure and suc-ceed through grueling circumstances. One executivetold us how his employer had provided support toemployees who were terminally ill: “He watched,monitored, observed each individual’s needs, andadjusted his support accordingly. His ability tocope with adversity and the pressures it puts on hisbusiness will always be inspiring to me.”

The Benefits ofAcknowledging Emotions

When negative emotions are acknowledged openly,
I have found that employees learn to anticipate and